


Routine

by Chromi (orphan_account)



Series: Thirsty Prompt Fills [3]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Established Relationship, Love, M/M, Non-Explicit Sex, Prompt Fill, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-12
Updated: 2020-08-12
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:35:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25863691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/Chromi
Summary: They loved the quiet days, the calm, relaxing days where nothing much happened. The days between island stops out in open water, between hair-raising adventures and haggling for supplies. The days where no one interrupted the crew’s lazy meander around the New World, protected by their name and status.
Relationships: Fushichou Marco | Phoenix Marco/Portgas D. Ace
Series: Thirsty Prompt Fills [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1761259
Comments: 1
Kudos: 69





	Routine

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted to the [One Word Prompts - Whitebeard Crew](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19321228) on July 22nd 2019. Moving to it's own entry to bring the collection's rating down to T!

They loved the quiet days, the calm, relaxing days where nothing much happened. The days between island stops out in open water, between hair-raising adventures and haggling for supplies. The days where no one interrupted the crew’s lazy meander around the New World, protected by their name and status.

Without meaning to, without planning for it, Marco and Ace felt themselves settling into a routine of sorts whenever these calm times came about, which was more frequently than one might believe would befall a Yonko crew.

Ace would always wake with the sun, stretching and curling his toes to the feel of Marco sliding in closer behind him. A soft kiss to his shoulder to let him know he’d woken his lover, a press of that tattooed chest to his own inked back, and Ace would lean into the warmth of the blond commander.

The tickle of fingers along his hip. The deep exhale of breath when Marco pressed his face into Ace’s hair. The lazy slide of a palm along his inevitable morning hard-on. The rock of Marco’s hips into his behind, sliding thick between his thighs as Marco stroked him. Soft, lazy morning sex was Ace’s favorite, the way that Marco would keep the pace so slow, so gentle, licking up his neck as Ace shuddered into release. Nothing could beat this intimacy. The stickiness between his legs was not something he could say he particularly enjoyed, but having Marco groan his name and words of love, half awake, into the sensitive spot behind his ear was worth it.

They showered together every morning when fully awake, Ace humming at the feel of Marco’s fingers working the shampoo into his scalp. Sometimes Thatch would join them in the commanders' shared bathroom, coercing Marco into washing his hair too. Ace always laughed when Thatch whined that Marco pulled at his long hair too much.

They would dry in the sun, weather permitting, sitting together on deck in quiet conversation when Thatch left to tend to breakfast down below deck. Words of nothing, sitting close, occasionally chancing a kiss if they thought no one was watching.

Someone always caught them. Everyone knew. Nobody cared.

If anyone deserved love, it was those two.

Breakfast was consumed eagerly, without fail, on Ace’s part, shoveling down everything that Thatch brought out for him in quantities that should have made him sick. Marco would make do with coffee, occasionally toast, if the sight of Ace choking on his bacon didn’t make him nauseous. They had learned through trial and error not to talk when Ace was in mid-flow, avoiding a narcoleptic attack wherever possible. It didn’t always stave them off, though, and Marco would grab Ace’s face automatically to stop him dropping into his plate.

Goodbye kisses before they went about their duties. Soft, warm lips peppering love to Marco’s eyes, his cheeks, his jawline. Fingers carding affectionately through Ace’s thick hair. A smile pressed into a grin.

Tender.

Marco thought of Ace as he tended to any patients in the medical bay, diagnosing and prescribing and listening to their worries. He would try to remain focused as the nurses handed over to him, really he would, would try to remain professional in the face of his staff and friends. He was better at retaining focus than Ace was, significantly so, but he still got himself caught staring at notes and charts with a glazed, vacant expression more regularly than he should.

Ace thought of Marco as he rounded up his division and led their morning workout and hand-to-hand training at the stern, humiliated every time he lost focus and allowed himself to get kicked in the head, the chest, the back by his subordinates. He insisted that they were just better than him at this stuff, what with actually being able to land hits on a Logia user. They knew his mind was elsewhere - some knowing where precisely, some thinking it was down in the kitchens.

They liked to pack up lunch for the two of them at midday and set off on Ace’s Striker, Marco allowing his sandals to skim along the waves as he sat on the little bow. Sometimes, when he felt the need to stretch out and, honestly, show off for Ace, he would transform and fly alongside his love, serene and elegant and impossibly beautiful. They would eat surrounded by the open water, laughing at tales of their pasts, reminiscing their younger years, tentatively and carefully tiptoeing into thoughts of their future. Some days they simply recited the mantra that Pops would become the Pirate King. Other days Marco would want to drown himself when he let slip something sentimental.

_“I’d like to get married one day.”_

_“Oh? To who?”_

_“Who else?”_

They would arrive home several hours later in various states of embarrassment whenever one or both steered their conversations too romantic, Marco spontaneously popping blue feathers from his skin and Ace keeping his fellow pirates well away with accidental flashes of fire along his arms.

After dinner was always, _always_ family time. They couldn’t escape it, even if they had wanted to. Family time meant alcohol, and alcohol meant games of strip poker that were rigged against the favorite of the day, or games of Old Maid that resulted in crew members getting tied upside-down to the masts. Pops would mediate arm wrestling matches, betting his sake to go to the winner and then knocking it back himself when his victorious son came to claim his prize.

Laughter surrounded the two at all times, returning affection to their brothers as it was received. Ace did not feel threatened when Thatch got too cuddly and climbed drunkenly into Marco’s lap. Marco did not worry when Izou grabbed Ace’s cheeks and kissed him full on the lips.

They were secure. Mellowed.

Safe in their feelings for one another.

Some nights they would get back to one of their rooms so drunk they could barely make it through the door; indeed, on one particular night neither of them could figure out how to work the door handle and had slept in the corridor. That had been interesting.

And some nights they stayed sober enough to wrap around each other again, collapsing into bed and melting into one amongst the kisses and wondering hands.

Marco on his back, thighs gripping Ace’s waist as they rocked.

Ace on his knees, sobbing his lover’s name into the pillow.

It never mattered how it played out, how it began - it always ended the same way without fail.

_“I love you.”_

_“I love you more.”_

Sleep would come for them, curled up together in bed. Hidden from the crew. Senses and minds filled only with each other, full of the other man’s gentle breathing, the rise and fall of their chests.

A kiss to Ace’s freckles. A palm to Marco’s back, pulling him in closer.

And they would do it all again tomorrow, and the tomorrow after, and all of their tomorrows they were granted.

Peace laced with love. Love gained in the hold of the phoenix and his flame.

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to fill [my Tumblr](https://chromiwrites.tumblr.com/) inbox with prompts, nonsense, or anything at all! I love to chat TT
> 
> Comments and kudos let me know if I'm doing something right, and I always love your feedback!


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